Three people killed in accident near Bel Aire on K-254 identified (VIDEO)

Three people from Butler County were killed early Sunday morning in an accident near the Sedgwick-Butler county line.

Two badly damaged cars rest on the shoulder near 159th Street East and K-254 Sunday morning. Three people were killed in the two-vehicle accident, according to a Sedgwick County dispatcher said. One of the vehicles was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes of K-254, a Kansas Highway Patrol spokesman said. The three killed are two women and a man, all from Butler County, he said. (July 13, 2014)
The Wichita Eagle

At least three people are dead after an accident at K-254 and 159th Street East early Sunday, a Sedgwick County dispatcher said. The two-vehicle accident, near the Sedgwick County/Butler County line was reported at about 6 a.m. Sunday. (July 13, 2014)
The Wichita Eagle

A badly damaged car rests on the shoulder near 159th Street East and K-254 Sunday morning. Three people were killed in the two-vehicle accident, according to a Sedgwick County dispatcher said. One of the vehicles was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes of K-254, a Kansas Highway Patrol spokesman said. The three killed are two women and a man, all from Butler County, he said. (July 13, 2014)
The Wichita Eagle

Three people from Butler County were killed early Sunday morning in an accident near the Sedgwick-Butler county line.

Killed were Dominic Stolfi, 16, of Benton, who was driving a 2001 Ford Explorer pickup; Lisa Hardy, 27, the driver of a 2007 Buick Lucerne; and Nancy Ross, 52, a passenger in the Buick. Both women were from Potwin.

In a media briefing, Kansas Highway Patrol Master Trooper David Monckton said emergency dispatchers received multiple reports of a vehicle traveling west in the eastbound lanes of K-254 shortly before 6 a.m. A few minutes after the first call, there was another call saying there had been a head-on accident.

“I can tell you that a green Ford was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes and struck a black Buick. The green Ford had one occupant that was pronounced dead on the scene as well as two occupants in the Buick, also confirmed as fatalities in the collision,” Monckton said.

The accident happened about two miles east of Bel Aire.

According to a Kansas Highway Patrol crash log, the driver of the black Buick went to the shoulder to avoid striking the westbound vehicle. The green Ford struck the Buick on the shoulder, the report said.

Monckton said the investigation is ongoing; the Kansas Highway Patrol is still conducting interviews.

“We have no clues or eyewitnesses to the actual accident,” Monckton said. “We had one or two people that actually saw the vehicle traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes.”

The Kansas Highway Patrol is asking anyone who may have been in the area at the time to call the Wichita division of the Kansas Highway Patrol at 316-744-0451.